In the last two weeks, Germany and its chancellor, Angela Merkel, were at the heart of efforts to achieve a diplomatic resolution to the two crises confronting Europe – in Ukraine and Greece. This is a new role for Germany, and the country is not yet accustomed to it.
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The ongoing turmoil in Ukraine has frequently been compared to the Yugoslav crisis of the early 1990s – and, indeed, there are many similarities. But, when it comes to understanding why, after a year of increasingly brutal fighting, a resolution seems so remote, the differences are far more important.
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One day, historians will have their hands full debating the causes of the chaos now overtaking much of the Middle East. But, however we got to where we are in the Middle East, we are where we are, and where we are is a very bad place to be.
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The new ceasefire agreement, signed by the leaders of France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine, is unlikely to fare any better than the previous one, because Vladimir Putin has found in Ukraine the perfect tool with which to confound and divide the West. And Putin's firmest political credo is simple: what he can divide, he can rule.
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Just as there is no purely military solution to the conflict in Ukraine, there is no purely diplomatic one. Only by strengthening Ukraine's defensive capabilities – and thereby reducing the chances that a separatist military campaign would yield major territorial gains – can the US and Europe hope for a lasting political agreement.
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